Page 42 of No Rhyme or Roughing
With popcorn, right. I laughed. “You sure? I know how much sleep you meatheads need.”
“Hey!” He pressed a hand to his chest. “This meathead is excellent no matter how much rest he gets.”
“Sure.” I tossed a piece of popcorn his way.
He lunged forward and caught it in his mouth before shouting in victory.
“Quiet,” I hissed-snickered, looking toward the stairwell. If we woke my brother, he’d want to join us, but only after he took the kettle corn back. No one came.
Ryder grinned unrestrained. I liked this version of him, the version I only got when we were alone. “Wanna see if I can do that twice?”
“We aren’t children.” I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
“Fine, fine.” He thought for a moment. “You’re right. Better try for three times.”
I chucked another piece his way, and it smacked him in the middle of the forehead. “Can I ask you something?”
“Depends.” He leaned back on his hands.
“On what?”
“If it’s part of the game. The one we started on the boat.” I must have looked confused because he went on. “Tell me a secret, Valentine.”
“A secret?”
“Like on the boat. Something no one else knows.”
I had too many of those. I looked away for a moment, and when I turned, he was closer, leaning forward.
“It’s easy. I’ll go first.” His eyes held mine. “Today, dancing out there… it was humiliating.”
My heart nearly broke at his words, but he wasn’t finished.
“And yet…” He smiled.
“And yet?” I needed to know how it had felt,whathe’d felt.
“I don’t know… I’d never been so… exhilarated. I didn’t think, didn’t get too inside my own head like I tend to. It was like I got to be someone else for the length of one song, and I was?—”
“Free.”
“Yeah,” he breathed. “That’s the word.”
Dancing had always been like that for me. Freeing, exhilarating. Even if now I just trained others to dance, I still understood Ryder in this moment. Suddenly, he was too close, too right there. I scrambled away and the bag of popcorn fell from my lap, tipping over and spilling onto the floor.
“Teach me something.” The words were so quiet I wasn’t sure I’d heard them. Then, Ryder stood. “We both know I have to do this again in three days. I’d like to be better than I was today.” He held a hand down.
I stared up at him, at his hand, not sure if I could handle being close to him right now. I needed to go back to bed, to sleep this moment away. Instead, I settled my fingers in his, letting him pull me up.
“Okay,” I said, pulling my hand free. “There’s not much time to learn a lot for someone who has never taken a class before.”
“But you’ll do it?”
I couldn’t help smiling at his earnest question. “Yes, Ryder. Just… back up a little.” I widened my stance. “Start with your feet hip-width apart and square your hips.”
He did as I asked. We still hadn’t turned on a light, but the glow from the kitchen spilling into our space backlit him.
This was stuff I’d teach to a beginner’s class, which I guessed was what he was. “You’ll be on skates, so you’ll need to adapt to that. Maybe every time we step here is you gliding forward. Start on the left, okay? Go left, then right, and to left again, but time it so you’re hitting each beat of the music. Now, add a kick to each step so your feet come out a bit further. One and two and one.”
